At CSPC Main dans la main, we support each child's development through an approach that unites three complementary and inseparable pillars: providing appropriate medical care, supporting families in their social realities and defending children's rights.
Every action taken by the team combines care, social support and respect for rights to build a fairer, healthier and more humane world for children in highly vulnerable situations.
Supporting families, understanding their social realities, and strengthening ties.
Collaborate with the legal community and facilitate access to justice according to the 7 key principles of social pediatrics.
Our doctors offer consultations in co-intervention with social science professionals (social work, psychosocial intervention, special education) in a flexible and human approach that respects the rhythm and priorities of families. Consultations can address physical health, overall development, adjustment difficulties or the child's emotional experience.
Social workers, special care counsellors, art therapists and zootherapists accompany families in their everyday challenges such as residential instability, insecurity, conflict, isolation, multiple stressors, etc.
They support children in their emotions, behaviours and relationships, offering spaces for expression, group activities and interventions at home or at school. These actions aim to better meet the child's needs, while working with their parents and the various community stakeholders involved.
In community social pediatrics, every action is guided by the 7 key principles of children's rights, based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In addition, at CSPC, we organize educational workshops on rights, offer support for educational success, facilitate the participation of young people in the community (Law Committee - UNIvers-Jeunes) and encourage their expression through art, the spoken word or civic involvement.
Children’s growth and development must be assured irrespective of differences. This means that no child should be left behind due to their personal or social characteristics or those of their parents. In a just society, each child must be able to develop fully and freely.
The child must be at the centre of each decision so that their best interests are respected first and foremost. This obligation is incumbent on all individuals and organizations working for the child’s well-being. The child must be listened to and consulted, and their rights and needs considered, because each case is unique.
Children must enjoy the rights and freedoms to which every human being is entitled, including identity; freedom of expression, thought, conscience and religion; freedom of association and peaceful assembly; and the right to be informed and to participate. A child is a full-fledged citizen.
The entire community must be concerned with families in need in order to better support children. According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, community is the fundamental unit of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members. The family must be given the protection and assistance it needs to be able to play its full role in the community.
Children must have every opportunity to be born in good health and to develop their full potential. This involves access to medical care, a social circle offering quality services and the right to healthy living conditions necessary for their overall development.
Children have the right to be educated, have fun and discover the world within a healthy environment that respects their culture, beliefs and mother tongue. They have the right to a quality education that is adapted to all of their needs and their environment, with a view to enabling them to thrive, develop their strengths and prepare to assume their responsibilities as adults.
Children have the right to receive special protection; especially those living in difficult conditions. This means being protected from all forms of neglect, abuse or other violence, and from treatment that is cruel and unusual, inhuman or degrading. This responsibility goes beyond the parents, to anyone who has an obligation to the child.
Our team includes professionals from the fields of medicine, social work, special education, art therapy and zootherapy. Together, we combine our expertise and work closely to provide coherent, personalized support, rooted in the reality of families. Follow-up takes place at the Centre, at school, in daycare centers or at home. This proximity builds trust and facilitates access to services.
Transdisciplinarity emerges at the crossroads of knowledge: where expertise meets, mixes and transforms. It enables the team to create a new way of understanding and acting that transcends the boundaries of each profession.
The doctor may take part in a school meeting, the special care counsellor in a medical follow-up, and the social worker in a group activity. Roles are intertwined and enriched by their contact with one another.
Each perspective - medical, social, educational or artistic - is integrated to create a common understanding of the child and their family.
Expertise does not only come from professionals: parents, teachers and partner organizations also become holders of knowledge, integrated into the support provided.
